Days like this are hard to come by.
I had no school today and no other activities except for piano lesson.
So I stayed in my room and spent quality time with my piano and cello.
Very fruitful day! :)
Couldn’t ask for more. :)
Really treasure the time I can be home in the DAY… Cos I feel very restricted playing music at night.
Must really get down to writing my 80-word Bahasa Indonesia ‘essay’ now. :)
Pharmaco test has ended. :)
It’s such a relief.
Spent 3 hours reading this book “My Son, Yo-Yo” as told by Marina Ma, his mum.
It speaks of Yo Yo Ma’s life before he entered adulthood.
He was a child prodigy, born into a musical family. He started playing the cello at 4 and performed with his sis (on the piano) at 6 in alongside many acclaimed musicians.
As talented as he was, his father never failed to instill a deep sense of discipline in him. That was my take-home message for today!
DISCIPLINE.
Our conductor once said “If you don’t have discipline, don’t talk about music.” (He was referring to punctuality issue.)
One of my weaknesses is that I tend to do things according to my MOOD.
There is a fine line between habits and discipline. There is no sense of commitment in the former, but for ‘discipline’ it is “In spite of _____, I still choose to ______ (Practise, study, pray… And so forth.) because it is my responsibility.”
Another take-home message by YoYoMa’s father: Don’t believe in compliments.
After all, we know for ourselves how we actually fare.
By believing, we can actually become complacent and not strive to do better. But of course, we should be gracious and accept the compliments.
Again, there is a fine line between “confidence” and “complacency”.
“Confidence” is KNOWING you can do something whereas “complacency” is THINKING you can do something.
(According to my own interpretation of the words.)
So something for me to think about since I have some discipline and complacency issues!
I was so absorbed in that book, that after 3 hours of reading, I was nearly BLIND. Lol…
If only lectures were that interesting.
Had a rather nice and slow day :)
Spent most of my time on the piano playing fun things :) and still learning how to improvise…
Hence it explains why I am still up at this obscure hour trying to study for Monday’s test.
So it’s nice to study late into the night!
Peaceful and still.
Lol, I had a dream last night, about a neighbour who stayed above me who sent me 3 EMAILS of complaints regarding my piano-playing at night.
Lol… See guilty already…
That dream occurred because my dad was woken up last night by me playing at 11+pm and scolded me.
Haha.
My bad.
Love my room a lot! To the extent where I don’t mind staying in it the whole day. Being stuck with a piano, laptop and bed isn’t that bad huh. :)
I don’t even watch TV outside! So much so that when I tried to watch it today, I had trouble operating it. My dad had to ask if I needed help. Omg.
LOL…
That’s Aileen for you. Lol.
Today must have been the most perfect day!
Woke up at 8am despite my school starting at 1030am.
What an achievement. :)
But played the piano till I was late for school… Lol. Happy that despite that, I was the 2nd person to reach. :)
School went well, had lots of laughter with friends lol… Love being entertained by spontaneous mindless jokes! :)
Learnt how to set up an IV drip.
Not as complicated as it looks! :)
After school, we had a FREE dinner, courtesy of our nursing committee. :)
More laughing over stupid jokes. I think it’s some Friday syndrome. Haha.
And then I proceeded to study a little and went over to YongSiewTohConservatoryofMusic to watch a piano concert!!!
Inside the concert hall. (No photo edition.)
It was by 12 YST students.
1 hr 40 mins of pure piano indulgence.
One might think it was supposed to be a very relaxing and therapeutic time, but I was really drained by the time it ended.
Active listening and being moved to tears can be so tiring.
Part of the reason why I was there was to support a friend. He played Bach.
It was a little strange to watch a friend perform lol… Partly because he told me a little insight into the concert. In all the seriousness, I was laughing to myself. =X
Abigail Sin was before him. If you find her name familiar, she was the one who performed at the previous President’s Star Award.
I remember her saying something like “I don’t like people to refer me as a child prodigy, because that means I’m still a child.”
*applause*
Went backstage to give him the FLOWER.
It was my FIRST time giving a guy FLOWER… (So I had to seek the opinions of 2 guys first lol…)
And FIRST time wrapping a flower. Lol.
Quite proud of it. :)
He was the only one with flower tonight, and he was rather proud of it too. Lol…
Flowers make everybody’s day!!!!! :)
So anyway, I was smiling my way back home when I received a call asking if I could play for a wedding next Friday morning @ Sentosa.
Of course I was elated hehe! My first wedding performance! Will be playing the classic “Canon in D” and some other love songs on the cello with 3 others.
On top of that we will be paid + transport sponsored! Yipee.
$$$!
How awesome. :)
Gotta rush back to school for lesson though and then to ZOUK at night for a school event. :)
The creepy thing is, both the wedding and Zouk events have the SAME DRESS CODE – Red and White.
And now I’m wondering what to wear on that day so as to fit all 3 occasions…
Beach wedding –> School –> Zouk
Lol… Any suggestion?
Yipee Immunology CA has ended :)
Kinda happy with it.
Met Henry for dinner! He treated me! Cos he’s getting richerrrrrr… Lol. (And I’m getting poorer. Hahaha)
*burp*
Not much of happenings lately eh.
Other than study and piano. :)
Went to Sentosa on Sunday with my subzone hoho.
@ Tanjong Beach
Paw prints :)
Huge dogs swimming to retrieve an item thrown by owner
Returning to shore :)
I love huge dogs!!! :)
Station games! =P
Don’t ask me what are those Haha.
Station masters
A heart
Miss spending time @ the beach! Miss playing volleyball too!
Used to have trainings 4 times a week. Gone are those days…
I don’t even exercise now. Lol.
(But I weigh lighter now due to decrease in muscle mass. *Ahem*)
~~~
And oh ya, had piano lesson today and I told my teacher about my result…
She asked why didn’t I tell her earlier???
Because my result is so insignificant that I wasn’t even excited to tell her. Sigh.
She was rather shocked that I got so low… And kept questioning what went wrong.
I said “Everything.”
And tried to come up with some justifiable excuse like “Oh I had a concert the day before.”
Only to be answered “Ya so?”
True… So what?
But nvm I’m over and done with that.
Will be doing my Grade 6 theory next March. And Grade 7 practical next August.
Slowly but surely!
Passed my piano exam. :)
Deteriorated though…
This time round was my worst piano exam experience. Never wanna go through it again…
Excited to start the next grade. :)
And go as far as I possibly can.
If everything goes well, I’ll start my piano diploma right after I gradate from NUS…
Recently I have a strange feeling I might stay abroad in future. Hmmm…
Especially since Nursing can take me anywhere in the world.
You know how spontaneous I can be… =P
Argh, hate distractions when I study.
2 tests coming up and both are of mindless memorisation.
Dumb.
Isn’t a brain made for THINKING purposes…
Piano result is OUT.
It’s in my email, but I haven’t had a look. Not planning to until I am prepared one fine day.
Well, had an otherwise lovely day. :)
Studied alone in my favourite place. Just about 3 people there. I love quietness.
Learnt about subcutaneous injection today :)
It says “Ultra-comfort Needle” :)
Again, that’s subjective.
And then we went for a BBQ gathering with my Indo team :)
Nice night together :)
And now I gotta study… Though kinda sleepy oready~~~
It was quite a wonderful day!
Had 3 hours of Bahasa Indonesia class. Awesome.
Our Indonesian hosts will be coming to Singapore in a few weeks’ time, hopefully I will be able to converse a little bit with them in Bahasa Indonesia by then!
I will most likely be going back to Medan again end of the year with Sofi to her hometown! :)
I love Indonesians and their country!
~~~
Went over to Music Library @ YongSiewToh to study again… It’s the best library to study in. Condusive with very few people. I hope it remains this way.
Science library is too nerdy. The atmosphere is as dull as the building and the people look like future scientists and researchers… Many Medicine students too. Spells boring + tense.
Arts library is way too crowded and noisy. I won’t even feel guilty talking normally to my friends. Impossible for me to study there.
The minus point is that Music library closes darn early at 6pm? Just when the studying mood kicks in…
So anyway, my friend brought me into YongSiewToh again! Hehehe. Awesome.
We studied at the student lounge. It’s the best place in NUS to study in. NOBODY!!! Total silence + no distraction. There’s nothing to do, with just tables and chairs around, other than to STUDY.
He’s going to perform next Friday!
It says “’Primarily Piano’ a showcase featuring Conservatory Piano Students”. So cool.
Wonder when will it be my turn to perform…? Sometimes I do feel like the Little Mermaid.
However, I will always remember what my piano teacher said, “You can’t rush music.” She doesn’t encourage me to skip any grade as “there is something to learn in each grade”…
Directory @ YST… Click to enlarge!
Taken on the 3rd storey. Music library to the right…
With a building like that, I don’t mind going to school everyday!!!
It was a lovely Monday! (To think I was so dreading it last night…)
Many wonderful things happened in just 1 day! :)
1) Got a new tuition assignment! Will be teaching Secondary 1 Science every Thursday. :) I see $$$!
The fee I earned will be exactly the same as my piano fee. So I’m earning for my piano lessons actually.
2)
A friend, my cello partner in orchestra!, brought me for a tour @ Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music!!!!!!!!
(0.0) It was an eye-opener, I was awe-stricken and honoured to even be inside, where “200 of Asia’s most talented young musicians” are.
Steinways and MacPro are everywhere…
Pianos costing as much as $165k…
It was really exclusive.
He played a little bit of Yiruma’s “River Flows In You” (with lots of improvisation of cos) on a Steinway… And omg, I think I’m in love LOL…
On one hand, I felt very inspired to practise harder and to strive even further. However, on the other hand, I felt discouraged to know that I’m nowhere near where I wanna be.
Nevertheless, the former still overrides the latter. :)
3) Started studying for Immunology! Glad to have finally taken that first step. Understood a little more now. :)
4) Meng Ching joined me to study for a while. Happy to see her. :)
5) Met my dad for dinner and he gave me allowance for the month! :) At just the right time… :)
6) I brought up the playing-piano-into-the-night issue and asked if it’s loud outside of my room whenever I play and blabla…
He said “Just play la”.
It was the SECOND time in my life when he actually told me to play the piano. The first time was because he wanted to use the computer which I was using.
Most of the time, all I’m hearing is people telling me to stop playing because it’s too noisy, so to hear that was something unusual and very much appreciated.
Parents don’t realise how significant their little ‘mindless’ comments and opinions mean to their children.
I don’t think he even remember those 2 instances… But I do and will for a long time. :)
7) We went shopping @ NTUC after that and he said I could buy whatever I wanted! :) So I include a tub of Haagen Dazs. =P
Ice cream does wonders!
Lovely happy Monday~ :)
Had such a great weekend, it makes going back to school a great challenge.
Hanged out at Gary’s place with Sofi, Darren and a few others last night, we were singing to all kinds of songs till about 1+am!
How cool hehe.
So I ended up reaching home at 3am…
And had to perform at EXPO and JW in the morning…
Happy and sleepy! :)
The kids were real adorable!
Oh and on Friday, we finally learnt how to INJECT people… Muahahahaha.
Equipment to prepare! Syringes, needles, injection solution, alcohol swap. A prepared heart and patient. :)
Breaking the glass ampule containing injection solution.
Mel holding the ampule :)
Drawing solution out into the syringe
Excited to start! =P
lol No comment
Bubble at the needle tip! :)
Maybe it’s a good idea to put bubble solution in syringes too to make bubbles :)
Injection at the butt!
With our teacher looking on (nervously) =P
The butt area is a little trickier. A person might be paralysed if we inject solutions into the nerves instead of muscle…
Acupuncture!
The art of improvising :)
Look at the machine on the left, it showed a green light! Yay we did the right thing.
So, does anyone wanna be my guinea pig?
HAHAHA…
By the way, our teachers DID NOT teach us that. I don’t wanna be expelled from school man… Haha.
I’m beginning to dread going to school…
My heart is/was apparently not there.
My mind is constantly thinking of music, of how I wish I can be home playing the piano… Or sneak into YongSiewToh and play on their Steinway.
And learning up a new piece I was given, so that I can present a neat one to my teacher next week…
But there are so many restrictions and limitations.
I feel like a trapped bird.
Oh what disarray.
My day was initially ruined by some Year 1 fickle-minded girl, whom I have already blacklisted.
I hate fickle-mindedness and indecisiveness.
I don’t know why is it so hard to make a simple decision???
If it is so, then what about the BIGGER and more important life decisions we have to make?
Sorry Emma for bearing my grumpiness! Nice chatting with you in the canteen though! :)
HAHAHA… Omg.
I earned $10 in school today for doing a simulation which lasted for less than 5 minutes hahaha. That really cheered me up. :)
Proceeded for my first Bahasa Indonesia tutorial!!! Kinda fun!
Siapa nama Anda?
XXX
O, begita!
Siapa Anda di mana?
Di Tanjong Katong!
Hahaha. Begita!
This is the ultimate self-entertainment.
Oh I’m so happy tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had a post-concert celebration with the Choir and it was such fun!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love hanging around with fellow musicians as I get so inspired to improve my playing each time and my perspective of music is very much broadened after hearing their experiences!
So so privileged!
Click to enlarge! :)
Some of us!
Victor! Who always likes to pat my head………
And my fun pool partner! :)
Can’t wait to perform this weekend! :)
Oh I was telling someone that I aim to get a police report by the end of the year cos I simply love playing piano at obscure ungodly hours.
Be thankful you’re not my neighbour!
Now that my piano is in my room, I must learn to play worship songs and sing as freely as I like! :)
Spent my day playing piano in my room… Finally learning a NEW piece now… A Mozart sonata… :)
Reason why I was late for Immunology lecture at 5pm. It’s such a… …
I’m starting to dread school now.
Going back to school after 2 adrenaline-filled days, was kinda… Hmmm ok…… What’s next…?
I don’t even mind having 4 hours of rehearsal everyday… or piano lesson for the whole day…
At least they are way interesting.
And way stimulating.
And challenging…
Science lectures are so dead. It’s not even thought-provoking. And it encourages us to be passive learners.
Argh ok enough.
Just received the news that I’ll be performing @ Children’s Church this weekend…
Saturday – 3.30pm @ Jurong West & 6pm @ Expo
Sunday – 10.30am @ Jurong West
Yipee!
Such a joy~~~ :)
I don’t even mind travelling from the Wild West to the Far East!!!
I think I have a serious attitude problem regarding school!!!
IT IS FINISHED!!!
Though I didn’t end it well with my piano exam…
Screwed up.
Thankfully the examiner was very kind… He’s Matthew Vine, a tenor.
Can check him out at the link below.
http://www.liedertafel.org/biogs/MatthewVine.html
By right the sequence of my exam should be like this,
1) Scales
2) Pieces
3) Aural
4) Sight-reading
Scales was ok… He was really kind to give me easy scales. Still, I made stupid mistakes I have never made before.
3 exam pieces should be next.
But I was SO NERVOUS, I couldn’t even play the first 4 bars of the first song (in the video I recorded previously)!!!!
WHAT THE…
I attempted a few times, but still couldn’t…
That was darn traumatizing. I didn’t even know if I could play through the piece… So much for practising…
He was kind enough to let me do the aural first… Which was basically some singing tests.
It was fineee just that my sight-singing was bad.
The thought of him being a professional SINGER made me more stressed up.
Thankfully, after aural, I was more composed and proceeded to play my 3 pieces.
Every piece was littered with small mistakes… But overall was fine I supposed. Played my heart out, though my fingers refused to cooperate.
After the pieces, I did my sight-reading… (A random piece they give to play on the spot.)
Upon looking at the score, I went… 0.0?! Why issit so long??? It was twice my normal sight-reading.
(As if I wasn’t traumatized enough…)
Then I realised it was meant for a higher grade, so I pointed it out to him.
He kept apologizing!!! Even as I bid him goodbye… I think it was really trivial and I didn’t mind it at all. I was actually happy it wasn’t that piece.
My sight-reading was good, the only thing I was happy with.
Anyway, I broke down after my exam. It was just too heartbreaking.
Sms-ed my teacher about my exam and she called me and was kinda light-hearted about it, so it made me feel better… :)
Marilyn called me too lol… I remember calling her and rumbling to her after my exam last year… In the end, I got a Merit… Lol…
This time I don’t know…
Results will be out in a few weeks’ time. :)
~~~
ANYWAY! On a lighter note, some flowers to brighten up my day!
Received them last night after the concert! :)
Beautifully wrapped by Shing! Thanks for coming in spite of you fainting prior to concert! Hope you are feeling better now… Thanks for your constant encouragement!!! :)
And the red SCROLL! A card by my cg!!! So surprised! Thanks for believing in me~ :)
The biggest bouquet of flowers I’ve received!
It’s from my NURSING friends!!! Thankssssssssss :)
So lovely! :)
Don’t you just love receiving flowers! hehehe.
Nicely seated on my piano! :)
It’s really therapeutic just looking at those~~~ :)
(Hospitals should have more fresh flowers around…
But again, there are pollens, bugs and yada yada to consider…)
Thanks also to all who supported me in your own little ways throughout these 2 days. It’s comforting to know that I am not alone on this journey. :)
Playing music can be such a solitary thing.
Last but definitely not least, I wanna thank the One who made it all possible. Thank God for His amazing grace and unfailing love in my life…
My Help in times of need.
My number one Heroooo!!! :)
